The Washington Examiner's Timothy P. Carney, pictured above, has yet another hard-hitting piece today, noting the deeper and deeper connections between General Electric and Barack Obama--with the Obama administration now helping GE do deals with the Russia of Vladimir Putin. And yes, it is most definitely Putin's Russia--he owns it.
As for GE, the ownership of that company is being shared now, between the shareholders and the US government. As Carney explains:
General Electric may be the company with the closest ties to the Obama administration (if not, GE is second only to Goldman Sachs), and here we see the company benefiting from an abrupt foreign policy change made by President Obama.
Something to always keep in mind when watching NBC, CNBC, or, of course, MSNBC. No doubt this new Russian wheeling and dealing by the parent company will go mostly, if not completely, unremarked, but even more profoundly, watch for the "BC" media properties to all tilt their coverage away from any criticism of the Obama administration's decision to back away from a Bush-era commitment to site missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic. The Obama administration's decision to change course on missile defense is a big, big deal, and TCG hopes that Tim Carney, and others, are there to muckrake all the angles, including whatever influence GE might have had on the Obamans.
In the short run, of course, GE shareholders might not mind this cozy relationship. From the point of view of a giant multinational confronting hard economic times, it's not so bad being co-owned by Uncle Sam.
But as we have all learned--one must be careful what one wishes for. The US government can help GE make some sales, but over the long run, government control is corrupting at best, and outright destructive at worst. But of course, by then, GE's Jeff Immelt probably figures that he'll be long gone, cashed out in centimillions worth of golden parachute.
